Love Market! (01-?)
by Elukia
Summary: (SPOILERS) Tamako has managed to make her feelings reach Mochizou, and he has accepted them. Now, they will have to face their emotions and learn to handle a relationship. What will the people from the district say? And their families? What about their friends? (Placed right after the last scene of "Tamako Love Story"). (Fluff)


**Chapter 1 - The lost train, the found hearts**

"Mochizou, I like you a lot!"

The words hit him one after another, like punches. Then they got together inside his head, forming the phrase that she had pronounced, and his brain processed them in what seemed like ages. He felt the blush going up to his face, and he could not help but to bring his free hand to his face, covering his mouth.

He had just hit and pinched himself, so this was not another one of his dreams. It was reality.

Did that mean that…?

"That's why… that's why…!". Tamako held the cup tight in her hand and looked away, and Mochizou realized that her eyes were watery. "Don't go! Don't go to Tokyo! I…!"

"Huh?". That surprised him even more. He put his hand away, still feeling the burn of shame in his ears. "What do you mea…?"

"Don't go to Tokyo! Don't transfer schools! I… I… You've always been with me! And I've never… I've never thought that you would leave my side, Usagiyama district, and…"

"Wait, wait!"

"And I…!", Tamako ignored him. She felt the tears accumulating behind her eyes, and she needed to convince him. She needed him to hear everything that she thought, everything that she had been thinking for ages. "I can't think of a future where you're not present, Mochizou! I don't like it, I don't like that future, so, please! Don't transfer schools! To-Tokyo is too far away, and I…!". Her eyes could not look at him straight, fearing how he could react. It had been hard for her to arrive to that point, it had been hard for her to make up her mind, and she did not know what she would do if he went so far away.

"TA-MA-KO!"

She lifted her head and, to her surprise, she found a frowning Mochizou right in front of her, who hit her on the head with the cup in his hand.

"O-ouch!", she complained, taking both of her hands to where he had hit her. In fact, it did not hurt. That groan was more a surprise sound than a complaint.

She opened her mouth to reply, but she could not do so. Having him so close made her notice his smell, that familiar smell of rice and cinnamon that characterized Mochizou, and she realized that she had missed that smell a whole lot. She felt her tears on the verge of her eyes, and, to prevent herself from crying, she closed her mouth and nodded, serious.

Mochizou sighed.

"I was going to Tokyo to do the entrance exam. I had to take that train if I wanted to make it on time to do it this afternoon, though I could still take the one at eleven…"

The commissures of Tamako's mouth went down to the floor, and Mochizou started to wave both arms.

"No, no, no, no! I'm not going to Tokyo! After this, I…!

He shut up, the redness flooding his face again, and he took his hands to his face.

"M-Mochizou?"

The worry in Tamako's tone made him blush even more.

"I-I mean!", he stuttered, trying to prevent their eyes from meeting each other. "W-why do you think that I wanted to go to Tokyo?"

"In Tokyo everyone can learn with good quality and teachers, and you've talent, so…"

"No!", he screamed, hysterical. Never, never ever, had he been able to tell that to anyone. He had almost confessed it to Inuyama and Momotaro that day in the club, but…

"Huh?", Tamako blinked, confused. She tilted her head, trying to think of more reasons for Mochizou to go so, so far away, but nothing came to her mind. "T-then…"

"I wanted to go away from you!", Mochizou shouted. Some people turned around to watch them, and he looked down, hoping that they would stop paying attention to them. When he looked up, he saw Tamako with her hands over her chest and her lips pressed tightly together, trying to hide the fact that she felt like crying —and failing in doing so: Mochizou knew her like the back of his own hand. "No, Tamako, wait! I-I thought that you didn't like me… And then I thought to go as far away as possible so that… Well, so that I could get over it and be able to be friend with you…". He took one of his hands to his hair, shy. "I didn't think of confessing neither, but Tokiwa-san… She told me that I should do it, and then, in the river…"

Tamako lifted her head slowly.

"Then, you're not going to Tokyo?"

"N-no. I don't have any more reasons to go… I can study cinematography in this city too…", he replied while his mouth got smaller and smaller.

Tamako sighed with relief, almost shouting, and she let herself fall to the ground.

"Huh? Huh? Ta-Tamako?". Mochizou went to grab her by her arms so as to prevent her from falling down, but he had second thoughts and did not follow through. He looked at her, worried and perplexed by her reaction, bended over next to her.

"I'm glad… I'm so glad…", she said, her voice full of relief, and a couple of tears fell down her cheeks.

Mochizou crouched down and, without thinking too much, he cleared her tears with the sleeve of his coat.

"Tamako, are you okay? Are you okay?"

She saw his face and laughed, feeling something warm in her chest. She grabbed his arm, which paralysed Mochizou right there and made him blush to his ears.

"I can't cry, or I'll make Hinako-san cry, right?"

"Hu-Huh? You remember that?". Mochizou looked away. Tamako was too bright at that moment to look at directly. And to think that she remembered that mochi with a face that he did in a rush to try and lift her spirits after her mother's death…

She nodded.

"I remember everything, Mochizou". She tightened her grip on his arm. "Every moment that we've spent together."

He did not know how to respond to that, but he did not want that moment to end. He was drunk in euphoria, in incredulity, and he also felt as happy as he had ever felt.

"Y'know, Mochizou? When you told me that in the river, I got really scared."

Mochizou's heart skipped a beat, and his mood decayed a little bit.

"I was really confused, and my head was turning around and around. I didn't understand what happened to me, and I thought that I had caught a cold from when I fell in the river. At first I couldn't even remember what you'd told me."

His stomach contracted. So, after all, his confession had been…

"And then my father nagged me, y'know?". She let some cute laughs out, and Mochizou looked at her, perplexed. "He nagged me 'cause I called the mochis "Mochizou". So they asked me for fifty bean mochis, and I'd say 'yes, fifty bean Mochizou'". She laughed again. "And then I couldn't stop listening to my father's song. Before I realized it, I'd stopped avoiding you, and every day, I wanted to see you more and more. I… I missed you". She tightened her grip a little more, but he did not feel pain. He could not stop looking at her, his mouth wide open. "And then I thought that I wanted everything like it was before. But then… That happened to my grandpa, and I… I thought that I wanted you there with me. That's why, when you arrived, I looked at you like that. And when you offered yourself to come with me in the ambulance… I felt something inside me, very familiar. Something that I've felt other times, but I thought it was something normal for my childhood friend. And after that, when you told me to ignore what you'd told me, I… I could only think about you leaving. That I wouldn't be able to see you anymore. Tokyo… Tokyo is too far away. I thought that we were gonna be always together at the district, and then… I realized that I didn't want everything to be like it was before. I couldn't be like before, it cannot be like before, because I… You know? It was Shiori who told me that I liked you. And I couldn't deny it, I couldn't say no. And I… And I… Then I was told about the flu, and I thought about not telling you to see you in high school, and then Midori appeared and said that you were already going to Tokyo, and that you were transferring schools, and I felt that I died, and… It may be very selfish, but… I don't ever want you to leave my side". She said the last phrase while avoiding eye contact, with a small mouth.

Mochizou tightened his teeth and, a second later, he was hugging her. Tamako opened her eyes a lot, noticing the blush going up to her face.

"I'm not going, Tamako. I was going not to bother you anymore, to forget about you. But that's not necessary anymore, right?"

She contained her crying, nodding, and buried her face in his shoulder.

"And that damned Tokiwa-san…", he murmured. "What's that about transferring? I've never planned something like that."

"Y-you were not transferring?"

"What? No!", he laughed, hugging her harder. "But, well, I guess I'll have to thank her. It's partially because of that that you've come, right?"

Tamako blushed even harder, remembering the race that she had made when going there, running, and emitted a sound similar to "yeah".

Mochizou laughed, and she swelled her cheeks.

"Are you laughing at me?"

He denied with his head, putting his head against hers.

"I'm just very happy."

Tamako smiled, grabbing his coat on his back. They stayed there a few more minutes, enjoying the hug, ignoring the rest of the passer-by's, until Mochizou suggested going back home. She accepted, taking his hand to get up. He asked for her cup, and saved them both inside his backpack, carefully.

"Should we go?", he said while he adjusted the backpack to his shoulder.

Tamako observed his features, his friendly expression, and remembered that she did not have to supress her instincts anymore, that she did not have to deny herself.

Smiling, she went up to him and grabbed his hand.

"Yes, let's go home", she said, happy, and giggled at the sight of him taking his free hand to his face again. "Mochizou."

He looked at her between his fingers, and she smiled widely at him.

"Our life… cannot go as it was before, don't you think?"

He did not answer, but tightened his grip, and she blushed at the same time that her chest filled with a very warm sensation.

"Well, let's gooooooo!", she screamed, fired up, and she started to walk fast, dragging Mochizou behind her among laughs.


End file.
